When most people want to start losing weight, they start doing cardiovascular exercise, and although they may wind up wearing out their running shoes and giving their spin bikes countless sweat showers, they rarely see meaningful changes in the mirror or on the scale.
Researchers have long noted the same thing in studies.
When people exercise for a few weeks or months—even vigorous exercise like high-intensity interval training—they lose less weight than you’d expect, and sometimes none.
A study published in the journal Obesity Reviews found that people who followed a cardio program (either moderate- or high-intensity) only lost about 2 pounds of fat after 12 weeks on average. That’s 0.2 pounds per week, an amount so small it’s hard to even measure.
Even more eye-opening are the results of a review study published by Queen’s University. After analyzing thirty-one studies, they found that weight loss outcomes got worse as the duration of exercise increased—people who followed an exercise plan for several months lost just 7 pounds on average, and people who followed an exercise plan for six months or more lost almost nothing.
As a result, many journalists, doctors, and fitness authorities have declared that exercising for weight loss is like trying to bail out a boat with a sieve—a fruitless endeavor.
Or at least the ordinary way of exercising is futile, some say, but if you give them $49.99 in 78 easy hourly installments, they’ll give you access to their proprietary patent perpetually pending breakthrough training techniques guaranteed to melt belly fat faster than a roided hornet—ahem . . . I digress.
All of this anti-exercise rhetoric has a soft underbelly, however, because none of the research used to support it controlled people’s calorie intake properly.
And what do you think happens when you put a bunch of overweight people on an exercise program without addressing anything related to nutrition and lifestyle? They burn more calories—whoop whoop—but then get hungrier and eat more—womp womp.
This “compensatory eating response” associated with exercise is cause for constant hand-wringing (“You just eat more after you work out! Oh the humanity!”), but it’s merely a natural, healthy, and necessary response to increased energy expenditure. After all, if we didn’t get hungrier after strenuous exercise, humans would’ve starved to death long ago.
The truth, however, is that while this reaction to exercise isn’t under our control (appetite will increase), how we act on it is.
Moreover, if you follow a high-protein, plant-based diet, you’ll significantly dampen the unwanted appetitive effects of frequent exercise.
So, while exercise alone doesn’t guarantee anything in the way of weight loss, what happens when you do a few hours of the right kind of exercise per week and eat properly? You lose fat, you lose it quickly, and you enjoy the process.
And what’s the right kind of exercise for weight loss, pray tell? Strength training, which you can learn all about in this article:
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Free Worldwide Shipping & Returns
Many companies use shipping and handling fees to increase their profit margins, but here at Legion, we hate profits, so our shipping is free!
Okay, so we do dig on profits, but we also go in for happy customers, and free shipping works like gangbusters. So, if you live in the UK, Canada, Puerto Rico, or Guam, your order ships free when it’s over $99.
Why the restriction on international orders? Unfortunately, shipping abroad is very expensive, and if we didn’t require a minimum order size, we’d lose a lot of money. But! We're also hustling to improve our international logistics and will be passing our savings along to our international customers.
Also, if you don’t absolutely love our stuff for whatever reason, we don’t request you deliver it to a PO box in the Gobi Desert by carrier pigeon.
We just . . . wait for it . . . give you your money back. No returns. No forms. No nonsense. Holy moo cows.
That means you can say “yes” now and decide later. You really have nothing to lose.
Free Worldwide Shipping & Returns
Many companies use shipping and handling fees to increase their profit margins, but here at Legion, we hate profits, so our shipping is free!
Okay, so we do dig on profits, but we also go in for happy customers, and free shipping works like gangbusters. So, if you’re outside the USA, your order ships free when it’s over $199.
Why the restriction on international orders? Unfortunately, shipping abroad is very expensive, and if we didn’t require a minimum order size, we’d lose a lot of money. But! We're also hustling to improve our international logistics and will be passing our savings along to our international customers.
Also, if you don’t absolutely love our stuff for whatever reason, we don’t request you deliver it to a PO box in the Gobi Desert by carrier pigeon.
We just . . . wait for it . . . give you your money back. No returns. No forms. No nonsense. Holy moo cows.
That means you can say “yes” now and decide later. You really have nothing to lose.
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In consideration of the services and/or products offered by Legion Athletics, Inc. (“Legion”) including, but not limited to, nutrition plans, exercise routines and coaching, and in addition to the payment of any fee or charge:
I knowingly and voluntarily enter into this waiver and release of liability and hereby waive any and all rights, claims or causes of action of any kind whatsoever arising out of my use of Legion’s services and/or products, and I hereby release and hold harmless Legion and its consultants, officers, contractors, agents, owners and employees from any and all responsibility, liability, cost and expenses, including for injuries, damages or disorders (physical, metabolic, or otherwise), resulting from my use of Legion’s services and/or products.
I understand that fitness activities including, but not limited to, strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular exercise, with or without the use of equipment, are potentially hazardous activities that involve a risk of injury and even death, and I am voluntarily participating in these activities and using equipment and machinery with knowledge of the risks involved. I hereby agree to assume and accept any and all risks of injury or death related to said fitness activities.
I understand Legion’s services and products are not meant to treat or manage any health conditions or circumstances, and I acknowledge that Legion has recommended I obtain a healthcare provider’s approval for my use of Legion’s services and/or products, through regular physical examination(s) and/or consultation. I acknowledge that I have obtained my healthcare provider’s approval or have decided to use Legion’s services and/or products without such approval and hereby assume all responsibility for my use of said services and/or products.
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